


Bad Habits

by maiaronan



Series: Clawen Week 2015 [2]
Category: Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: F/M, Tumblr: forsurvivals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-04-14 15:42:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4570122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maiaronan/pseuds/maiaronan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Claire and Owen mention Hoskins so much in their texts they had to shorten his name to “SOAB” so nobody could peek over their shoulder and get them fired, or even worse, hit in the face with a lawsuit.<br/>Written for Clawen Week Day 4: Favorite Expression.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bad Habits

Claire got in the bad habit of picking up Owen’s bad habits. 

They started off meeting every morning, briefly, in the company’s parking lot. Claire was strictly a tea-drinker, citing coffee as the worst offender of giving her the morning runs and staining her impeccably-polished teeth. She didn’t dislike coffee—she simply knew better than to get addicted to it again (Claire was pretty sure her blood was 50% iced coffee throughout high school and college—never again, she swore). 

But Owen showed up every morning clutching a vat of coffee, nodding to her from across the parking lot as they got out of their respective cars. He takes a sip from his thermos before disappearing into his part of the park. 

After a couple months of this, Claire ordered Zara to grab her Starbucks after finishing her 10 am meeting.

“You never drink coffee,” Zara pointed out suspiciously. 

Claire brushed it off and promised it was a one-time deal. She simply needed to satisfy a really bad craving, that’s all. 

It wasn’t long before her tea kettle lay abandoned in one of her office cabinets, replaced by a 500 dollar espresso machine.

 

 

—

 

Claire wanted to ensure her status as the ultimate professional working woman each time she walked into one of Masrani’s state-of-the-art, glass meeting rooms and took her seat at the head of the table.

Yes, nine times out of ten the meetings were dull, repetitive, and certain members of the board could really get Claire to feel the onslaught of a migraine creeping into the back of her head. Sometimes she questioned the validity of her job. Was this really worth chopping her lifespan in half and having her die a slow, stress-induced death, alone and somewhat miserable? 

The six-figure salary was definitely a motivator. And she was cut out for this. She’d practically trained her whole life for this. Sure, dinosaurs and angry pedestrians weren’t part of her initial college “dream board”, but this will have to do. 

Her perspective on her job didn’t change much until Masrani Global started having meetings with the inGen raptor program.

Owen Grady was at most of them, once a month. If she was the pinnacle of success and professionalism, Owen was slumping at the other side of the spectrum, somewhere. 

And that’s generally what he did at these meetings. Oh, it was really a circus whenever Owen managed to show up on time for these things. He did absolutely nothing to make anybody’s lives easier, with his disheveled appearance and snarky remarks firing at a bullet speed. 

Whenever Hoskins joined them, Owen’s ability to irritate everyone in the room grew exponentially. 

The first time Hoskins demanded when Owen would allow him access to the now-juvenile raptors that he’d apparently “licensed with his good, hard cash” was an absolute nightmare. Owen snorted and, leaning across the table, spat the word “never” into his face, causing Hoskins to storm out after screaming at him that he’d “fully regret his actions” and that he’ll have “those monstrosities shot and fed to the T-Rex”.

“Son of a bitch,” Owen said after Hoskins slammed the door shut.

“Son of a bitch,” Claire agreed, nodding slowly, without stopping for a moment to process what’d just come out of mouth.

Owen’s face lit up like a child on Christmas morning. 

 

—

 

So somehow, despite all common knowledge that “son of a bitch” was not a phrase a working, professional woman like Claire should be throwing around in a corporate environment, it’d become her and Owen’s codeword for Hoskins (and any other inGen slimeball).

At some point in their acquaintance, Claire had acquired Owen’s number. Now, she wouldn’t say she was much of a texter, but Owen definitely was. Claire managed to learn when all his breaks and work times were just by the frequency of when he wanted to strike up a conversation. Sometimes Claire would forget to silence her phone during meetings. It buzzed insistently throughout and she knew it was Owen trying to get her attention and simultaneously getting on her last nerve.

Still, she couldn’t help but take a peek at her phone when the meeting got long and boring.

For the record, Claire didn’t think it to be particularly appealing to have a “casual friendship” with one of her co-workers (who might get his arms eaten off by one of the assets one day and then that would be the end of it), but for some reason she stuck through it. Just like how she stuck through drinking a gallon of coffee a day and calling Hoskins vulgar names behind his back.

Speaking of that, Claire and Owen mention Hoskins so much in their texts they had to shorten his name to “SOAB” so nobody could peek over their shoulder and get them fired, or even worse, hit in the face with a lawsuit. They’d promised each other that they’d never say it to his face however (unless he really deserved it). 

 

—

 

“Son of a bitch,” Claire says angrily after the dishwasher breaks.

After her coffee spills for the second time that particular day.

After one of Owen’s raptors takes a chunk out of his leg and Masrani’s employee insurance refuses to cover the medical bill (“You knew what you were getting into!”).

After a half-drunken park guest stumbles forward to wrap his disgusting hands around her chest.

After Karen leaves a tearful voicemail about her divorce.

After Owen shows up to their one, long-awaited date and completely destroys it.

After Claire hangs up and promises she’ll let her nephews stay at the park until Karen and her soon-to-be ex-husband sort out their issues.

After Masrani orders her to drive all the way to fetch Owen from his bungalow.

After the Indominous is released into the park and all chaos ensues.

Really, there was no better expression, Claire realizes.

 

—

 

Needless to say, Claire thought it was appropriate to unleash it on Hoskins after Owen socks him square in the jaw, just for good measure. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Probably going to write a companion fic on all the habits Owen managed to pick up from Claire.


End file.
